Panacea
by mindslip
Summary: Sasuke thinks he can break Naruto and end the chase that has continued for years. Naruto thought he was prepared for anything Sasuke could throw at him. They were both wrong.
1. Chapter 1

PANACEA

Panacea: an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties.

In a dream, level with the burning crimson eye, face reflected in the glassy surface. He watched his own countenance in the black depths of the diamond pupil as it expanded and dilated like the focusing of a camera lens. Naruto stood before the nine tailed fox, Kyuubi, who's calculating feline eyes gazed out from the thick darkness beyond the bars holding him prisoner.

They were in the cavernous, flooded room that held the sealed cage for Kyuubi; a large decaying cathedral for a demon. Water dripped from the high ceilinged room, landing on the thin layer of water below. Ripples splintered across the water from these disturbances, spreading out like glass slowly shattering.

"Ah, the fool has stepped into the spider's web again," Kyuubi finally rasped from its cage. Its voice was throaty and deep, but had a slight metallic clip to it from disuse. "What is your careful reasoning this time, human?"

Naruto seemed to have been emptied of things to say in this dream, for he continued to stand silently while the water slipped around his shoes and into the cage before him, almost as if it was drawn by a current. At his sides, though, his hands clenched into fists. Why couldn't he speak? It was almost as if there was a lock on his tongue; his thoughts spinning dizzily in his head with no release.

Silence stretched in the cavernous room, the only sound being the soft echoes of water dripping and the hissing breaths being emitted by the nine tailed fox. Then, a deep, rattling growl grated through the bars like the rumbling's of an alligator.

The burning eye blinked, vanishing momentarily into the writhing shadows beyond the bars, then returned to blaze like a slice of dying sun. Rows of teeth loomed into view as the Kyuubi slipped closer, a grinning phantom of a fox. Naruto was struck again by the monstrous entity that lurked inside him, its presence seemingly swelling and pulsating against the bars.

"No response?" Its voice sounded closer, echoing in the great chamber so the demon seemed to be slinking elusively around him, or it was the room itself. Naruto felt a cold finger of apprehension slide down his spine as he imagined the entire cavern being the fox's mouth, the moisture dripping from the ceiling could be the demon's saliva. But the two glowing eyes locked on him contradicted these imaginings as Kyuubi chuckled darkly. "You stand at the maw of your own darkness, human, and here it waits eagerly to devour you. Why have you nothing to say?"

"My darkness?" Naruto asked quietly, his voice finally coming out feeling dry and unstable. He coughed and his voice strengthened, his eyes flicking up to the monster to match stares. "You may be keeping residence inside my head, but you are not me."

The Kyuubi looked amused. "I am part of you. Reflect on your childhood, remember the misery and solitude caused by my existence. You are my vessel, if you die, so do I. How am I not part of you?"

Blue eyes narrowed. "I still don't consider you a part of me. If anything, you're more like a parasite."

"A parasite?" The great voice of the demon rumbled, a knife's edge of anger appearing in the undercurrents of its speech. "I have saved your worthless life multiple times, even going as far as to tear you out of the jaws of death! You dare insult me...?" The Kyuubi's voice had turned into a dull thunder. "No one can see the black abyss of the bottom of the ocean, but do we question its existence? Surely it must have a bottom, much like you yourself have a pit of darkness within yourself. This place is where I live."

Naruto glared, his face darkening slightly. "All I see here is a slowly rotting demon."

"I am not _rotting_," Kyuubi spat out in disgust, "I'm biding my time until I can shred through your simple mind. But this is not a pleasure visit to your subconscious because I enjoy your infuriating company. Your mortal body is my weakness, and danger is lurking with a glittering blade in the darkness."

Naruto scratched his head. "That all basically means that something is coming after me, right? How would _you_ know anyways?"

"Ignorant boy," Kyuubi snarled with great disdain, crouching down startlingly close to the bars. A large gust of the demon's breath rustled Naruto's clothes and hair, but in this dream he did not step backwards in fear, but stared up at the large, deadly head of the fox. "What is the color white?" It asked suddenly, seemingly taking another approach in its explanation. The volcanic eyes slid half-closed, the pupils filling out as they studied Naruto.

The blonde boy's clenched the fabric of his pants, his lips pulling back in a grimace. "What kind of question is that?"

Kyuubi snarled at the boy's tone. "Impotent human, answer the question."

Naruto's brow furrowed in thought, a foundationless frustration with the demon making it difficult not to just snap back in reply. "The color white…" he started hesitantly, "is the—erm, it's the color of snow. It's…" Anger broke through as he fumbled for a description. "This is stupid! You can't explain a color."

The Kyuubi's tails rustled against the walls within his prison like the dry scraping of snakes slithering over stone. "White," the Kyuubi started in its deep, almost radio voice, "is the mixture of all the different colored light rays, the combination of all the colors make the light pure."

"Ehhh?" Naruto cocked his head in confusion. "Different light rays combined makes white?"

The monster ignored his confusion, leaning ever closer with a wicked smile draped across its face. "But when there is brightness, it must cast a shadow. That shadow is the lack of color, and in that darkness manifests hate."

"Why are you telling me this?" Naruto asked, exasperated. "What does any of it even _mean_? Are you just trying to confuse me?"

"You're being chased by your shadow," Kyuubi stated, the words fading like distant thunder in the vast room.

* * *

Naruto woke, sweating and in a wrestling match with his tangled sheets. Sunlight was streaming in the open window, igniting the floating dust motes hovering like solidified light. A groan escaped the boy in the bed, who still felt exhausted after the unwelcome disturbance of his dreams.

"I'm probably late," he intoned tiredly to the empty room. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, yawning and stretching until his shoulders and back popped, then nudged his feet to the floor and stood.

Clothes from his last mission led from the door to the bed in a curving line on the floor, the fabric stained with rusty splatters. On the bed side table was a picture frame with the glass smudged from swiping off dust. It was a snapshot from a different time whose frame pinned down maps covered in sloppy lines that ended in question marks and x's. Proof of his obsession. Naruto staggered over to the fridge and managed to begin heating some instant ramen. Even in the bleary half-awake state he was in, routine conquered all. He swung himself into a chair at the table, propped his head up with his hand and watched his meal cook.

..._Kyuubi_, he thought. The enigma that was locked inside him. Always clawing at the bars, lurking, pacing. An animal trapped in some sort of corporeal sewer; its mind smoothly churning like a well-oiled machine.

Subconsciously, his hand rested on the swirls of the seal on his stomach. Had he actually been visiting the demon in his dreams? Or was that just it, a dream? He silently mulled over the cryptic lecture from the nine tailed demon fox. Never before had the fox opened his jaws and said anything besides his overwhelming desire to rip off his flesh or to reluctantly shove his chakra through the bars.

_A warning, eh?_ Naruto thought lazily, his dream already starting to fade away as reality swept into focus. Well, that little warning had managed to wreck the small amount of sleep he had.

"Looks like it's laundry day," the unmistakable voice of Kakashi came from the window. Despite himself, Naruto jumped. He twisted around in his seat to glare at the jounin balancing on the window sill. Said ninja was eyeing the blood stained clothes scattered haphazardly on the floor.

"Kakashi-sensei! You can't just leap in people's windows! What if I was naked?"

The copy-nin's eye crinkled into a smile. "Then I would most likely lose my vision."

"Ehhhh?! You probably already lost it, staring at those pervy books!" Naruto cried indignantly, breaking acceptable morning sound levels with his voice.

Naruto's morning reverie was broken, and he was back to his loud, boisterous self, Kakashi noted. When he had first arrived, the boy had been head in hand, eyes unfocused and lost in thought. He wondered vaguely if he was thinking about HIM.

"Ma, ma, Naruto," Kakashi said lazily, "enough with the personal attacks. Anyways, you're late. Tsunade-sama is going to be very unlikable if you keep her waiting any longer."

"You're one to talk about lateness," Naruto mumbled, hurrying over to his ramen where the timer was chirping. "You should save me a layer of skin and tell the old hag I'm running late because Orochimaru was in my shower or something."

His former teacher chuckled, still balancing on the balls of his feet with the dexterity of a cat. "Hmmm, I would prefer keeping my head, honestly."

He watched Naruto begin slurping up noodles at the table, his eyes glittering with contentment, the shadows under his eyes less noticeable. Nightmares, it looked like. Concern murmured in the back of the jounin's mind, watching the boy alone in the cramped space of his apartment, the floor littered with blood-streaked clothes and only a single chair at the table.

The boy himself, with his tired appearance and slightly slumped form, had now reached the age of 17-- still stuck somewhere between a boy and a man. His untidy blonde hair was longer than when he was younger; strongly resembling the fourth hokage, but still stood in bright honey spikes. Naruto had grown from a scruffy, loud-mouth youth to a sleek young male consumed by his dreams. The noise level produced by him hadn't been reduced by much, though, Kakashi reflected. He smiled slightly behind his mask.

* * *

"NAR-U-TOOO!" Came the anticipated yell from Tsunade as he appeared in her office.

The blonde-haired boy was greeted by a clipboard thrown at his face, which connected quite solidly with a "thunk".

"Owwww, Granny Tsunade!" Naruto groaned, rubbing his forehead, "Whatdya do that for? You trying to kill me?!"

"Yes!" The exasperated Hokage snapped. "And anyways, you're a ninja, you should have ducked," she added dryly.

Naruto scowled, rubbing his forehead with a sore expression. "It's early," he mumbled. "Plus, how was I supposed to know that it was 'throw random projectiles at Naruto day'? I would've worn a helmet."

He hardly had time to duck a well-aimed stapler. "Hey, hey! I'm sorry, okay?" Naruto said, holding his hands out in front of him. "Don't throw any more innocent office supplies."

The Hokage huffed and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and settling a glare on Naruto that could burn holes through his clothing. Naruto chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his neck. "So, erm, the mission?"

"Yes. That." Some of the frustration melted off her face at the mention of business. Tsunade pulled out a drawer at the large hokage's desk and rifled through it with experienced fingers. She came up with a scroll, tightly rolled and inscribed with lines of kanji. She balanced it between two fingers horizontally and leveled her gaze over it at Naruto. "This is a message addressed to the Kazekage of the sand. I want you to deliver it to him, in person, to guarantee it's not intercepted."

"I get to see Gaara?" Naruto exclaimed, excitement shining in his eyes, and then his expression faltered. "Waaaait a minute. Why me? Why can't you just send a messenger bird?"

"Because, Naruto, messenger birds are now considered obsolete when concerning important documents. They're easily intercepted and manipulated while in flight between villages," she answered patiently, though her eyebrow did twitch at his fallen expression. "Usually I would have sent someone else, but currently most everyone is out on missions. I also must keep a certain amount of jounin in the village at all times. Seeing as you're still a _genin, _you were the prime pick."

Horror flashed across Naruto's face. "It's not my fault I'm still genin! I was gone for----"

"It doesn't matter," Tsunade interrupted. "You're going to deliver this. Along the outside of the document I've placed several seals in case it is forcibly opened by someone other than the Kazekage. Even if you," she pointed at Naruto, "tried to take a peek inside, it could be fatal. Understood?"

"Understood," Naruto repeated glumly.

Tsunade slid the scroll inside of a leather cylindrical case and closed it. She held it out to Naruto who walked to the desk and took it. "Strap this against your chest under your vest or tuck it somewhere extremely secure," she warned. "Losing it or accidentally disrupting a seal could have horrible consequences."

"Hai, hai." Naruto grinned one of his sunshine smiles, a thumbs up flicking up in front of him. "No worries, Granny Tsunade!"

He started to turn to leave, but Tsunade held up a hand, halting his energetic rush towards the door. "I also added a chakra concealment jutsu into the seal, it will keep others from sensing and locating you in the midst of your mission," she added, her eyes slightly darkening. "Just be careful, Naruto. The Kazekage has powerful enemies, as do you. Akatsuki hasn't made any movements as of late, but even so, I'm cautious about sending you out alone."

Her terse, frustrated expression had given way to a more tired one. For a moment, Naruto could almost see her real wizened face, shifting beneath the smooth, youthful mask she wore.

"Because of the Kyuubi," he said in a falsely cheery voice. "I know, I know."

"Well, yes, that," she responded hesitantly, "but I know how reckless you can be, Naruto. This is a solo mission, there's no one to back you up. So avoid confrontation, even if it's _him._"

* * *

Leaping from tree to tree with the careless abandon of flight, breathing in the slightly chilled air of fall shifting to winter. Golden light filtered through the crimson reds and burnt oranges of the leaves, their dry rustling like paper birds fluttering delicate feathers. The thick forest of Konoha breathed and trembled in anticipation of the cold that would coat the land with a sparkling chrysalis of ice, the branches dripping glittering, melting, chandeliers.

But for now the area hummed with hurried life, the birds mostly departed or twittering anxiously in the top branches, late on a crucial journey. Naruto's mind was free to wander at these moments. When physical endurance and reactions took over, a shinobi could delve into his turbulent psyche, brushing aside wispy tendrils of thought to confront the deep blacks and purples of roiling suppressed emotion. He took this moment to sink into his.

Sasuke was pushed into the thick, condensed heart of his confusion and frustration. His name and the memories of their childhood circled each other like sharks, locked and sealed under barriers layered since his departure. Swimming along the murky edges of this miasma was his worry and distrust of Kyuubi. The demon had always held Naruto's fate tightly in his jaws, lurking behind the seal while his very presence destroyed him. But now he sensed that something had changed, or that maybe the demon was turning mad.

Whenever Naruto was in a life or death situation, Kyuubi would release his chakra through the bars while looking like he would much prefer to eat him. But now it was philosophizing? Naruto snickered. Maybe it all _was _just some mushroom dream. Somehow though, in his gut, he felt that the demon had been spilling prophesies.

He propelled forward with an extra burst of chakra to his feet, allowing himself to soar weightlessly through the air until he landed solidly on the next branch. The wind with its tinted chill whispered hints of a frigid night, its voice cooling Naruto's whiskered cheeks and ruffling his hair as if with cold fingers.

The shadows under his flying form shifted like muted, gauzy phantoms slipping over the ground, the patterns from the leaves almost like…

Naruto brushed against the sore, swirling miasma churning in his mind, the black crackling clouds containing HIM. _Almost like the curse mark, _his mind supplied unhelpfully. He always tried to avoid the dark mass that burned away at him, filling him with regret but also ambition to fix what he hadn't realized was broken... well, until it was too late.

"_But when there is brightness, it must cast a shadow. That shadow is the lack of color, and in that darkness manifests hate," _the Kyuubi's voice grated in his head. Hate. Manifesting. A chill shivered its way through Naruto, and he fell forward into the turbulent emotions he religiously avoided, but was always consumed by. While he leapt from branch to branch, he watched a scene he had almost forgotten play in front of his eyes.

His memories from childhood, worn thin and hazy, came to him then as if beckoned.

_It was the soft, lazy times of childhood. The grass was tan from the heat of summer, the sky a pale, bleached blue. There was the taste of sweat and iron on his tongue, the faint burn of a scrape on his wrist. Naruto's feet made quiet crunching sounds on the dead grass as he walked to where Sasuke was stretched out on his back under a swaying oak tree. His eyes were closed, the lashes dark like stitches, and his body looked lax and tired._

_They were both drained from an extended sparring session in the Konoha summer heat— almost to the point of dehydration._

_Naruto flopped down with uncharacteristic exhaustion on his back several feet from Sasuke and proceeded to also close his eyes. The sunlight was warm on his eyelids, and the whisper of hot wind caused the grass to brush against his face. Sweat slid down his temples from the white sun, and insects stirred into a summer frenzy leapt, clicked, and made mechanical noises in the trees. But even the occasional grasshopper flitting onto his body didn't bother him, he was just so tired…_

_He sighed contentedly, stretching out and arching his back like a cat, then settled back into a horizontal position almost like his muscles had turned to liquid. "Ahhhh, man. I'm so beat! I won't be back to normal until I have raaaaamen," he groaned, one blue eye cracking open to look at Sasuke._

_The other boy's eyebrows had wrinkled at the sound of Naruto's voice, and a dark eye flicked over to glare before disappearing again as he closed his eyes. "Shut up, dobe," Sasuke said in a tired way, the superior tone diluted by obvious exhaustion. "Who said you could sit here anyways?"_

_Naruto scowled. "What are you, King of the Ground? I'm sitting here because I want to!" He folded his arms behind his head smugly, grinning with a devious smile that only came from bothering his best friend._

_With an annoyed huff, Sasuke proceeded to ignore him, crossing his arms over his chest._

_"Plus, you know you enjoy my company."_

_Sasuke sniffed. "Hardly. If I wanted a foul-smelling companion I would just summon Pakkun."_

_Naruto laughed delightedly. "Was that an actual joke, Mr. Ice Queen?"_

_Sasuke was silent, not adding anymore to their usual banter._

_Naruto turned his head, the sweat-dampened blonde spikes of his hair falling into his eyes, and looked at Sasuke. The other boy was in the shifting shadows of the tree, the dappled shadows fluttering over his pale skin. Dirt was streaked across one smooth cheek, and his usually immaculate clothing was stretched and sweat-stained. Naruto saw something then, maybe a flash of darkness, or the sleeping presence of a dark wolf curled inside of Sasuke's chest. A slight chill of premonition murmured through his veins, gurgling in his blood like dark spirits endowed with knowledge he had yet to learn._

_The brilliant summer sunshine seemed to have dimmed somewhat as Naruto's mind nudged through a labyrinth of thought, looking, searching for what he had seen in Sasuke._

"_Sasuke…" Naruto started to speak, his tongue suddenly a clumsy irrelevant tool for communicating his thoughts. "You…"_

_Sasuke turned his head, both dark eyes open now. Something twisted in restless circles behind the lenses of his eyes, almost like an eel creating an infinite figure eight. Emotion? No, it's…_

"_What?" The tone was cool, well-versed in the art of detachment, yet a slight edge of irritation sharpened his features._

"_You're not happy, are you?" Naruto said after strangling and beating his thoughts into submission. "I mean, you've never been cheerful or anything, but something's different."_

_The other boy's mask slipped a little, but not enough for his firm indifference to be broken. "What are you talking about?" His voice was hard, almost threatening._

"_I'm not stupid," Naruto said indignantly, "even if you think so. I can tell by the way we fight, and by the way you glare at everyone—Kakashi-sensei, the villagers... Do you hate us?"_

_There was a pause. The trees whispered to each other overhead. A cloud drifted over the sun, causing a dark phantom shadow to drift over the training field like a reaching hand._

_Sasuke sat up, his fingers clenched in the grass and his face slightly contorted with fury. "…Shut up, Naruto."_

_Naruto clambered up into a sitting position as well. "Why? Why can't you just answer that?" Naruto asked, a look of hurt mixed with indignation swam on his face. His eyes were fixed on the dark-haired boy with confusion, almost as if he was looking at a stranger._

_The atmosphere surrounding the two had switched violently, almost as if the heat had fried their senses and caused them to push aside their public disguises. Seconds ago he had flopped onto the ground, content to allow his screaming muscles to rest, but now he was locked in some strange situation with Sasuke. Both of them were frozen in a sort of stare down, like two dogs with their hackles risen snarling over territory._

_Pale fingers rose to touch the inky black curse mark, and the dark-haired boy turned his head, breaking the moment that had hung in the air. The angry twist of Sasuke's face faded into cool consideration, then: "Whatever." Black eyes wandered off to look at the shifting branches of the oak, the smooth bone structure of his face casting blue shadows down his cheeks. Then he pushed himself to his feet and brushed off his pants. "This is tiring."_

_Naruto jumped up, frustration evident on his face. "Stop, Sasuke!"_

_"Get lost," Sasuke called over his shoulder as he started walking._

_Naruto ran and leapt in front of the other boy with energy he didn't know he still had, and fisted his hands in the collar of Sasuke's shirt. "Listen here, teme---"_

_Contact. His head jerking to one side. His nerves grinding out messages of pain. Exhaustion and surprise caused him to stumble back on his ass dumbly, a hand clapped to his jaw. Sasuke stood over him, his head blotting out the sun, causing a fiery aura to blaze around his dark hair._

_"Naruto." The words were slivers of ice, needles. "Stay out of my way."_

_Naruto sat there in shock, his face raw in its confusion, anger, hurt. Had Sasuke really just hit him so swiftly, without hardly any real provocation?_

_Sasuke's fist was still clenched, his stance firm. "I only want to get stronger. People and feelings don't matter. Friends don't matter," he said acidly, directing the last statement at him. "This world is rotting, the people in it are either fools or people who use and kill the fools to their advantage. The only way to survive is to be powerful."_

_As Naruto sat on the ground and looked up at the shadow outlined by the sun, and it occurred to him that Sasuke had a monster inside him as well. It wasn't locked inside him behind bars and a seal, but it was growing there, tapped into his mind and tangled. Poison leaked out of the creature and soaked into Sasuke's thoughts, deteriorating his humanity into a blackened shell that released something oily and bubbling._

_Naruto watched his friend walk away, his jaw throbbing along with his wounded pride._

Naruto shook his head, causing the memory to be jarred out of his head. He could only imagine how much worse Sasuke's demons had grown. They probably clawed him from the inside, gnashed their fangs on his bones, and shoved their bristled hands up his throat for release. He could only choke it down, even if he could feel their nails scratching against the inside of his teeth.

Naruto clenched his fists, pushing himself harder through the trees, their branches whipping at his flying form. One day, he would bring Sasuke home. He would extinguish the darkness roaring savagely inside of him. One day, he would see Sasuke right in front of him, physical, real. He wouldn't be a little red "x" on a map, or a story someone told with a frown on their face. He wouldn't be a memory.

* * *

Darkness soared down upon the forest as the sun set, blanketing the burned colors of fall with grays and blacks. Naruto was setting up camp against the solid body of the mountains, the steep face of the side he was on had ridges of stone that created overhangs. Here he would be sheltered from the elements and be protected from the rear in case of an attack.

Naruto sighed and stretched, his hands reaching towards the bloody autumn sky. Starting from the horizon the sky created a gradient that shifted from the warm tones created by the sun to the cool blues and purples brought on by the coming night. It was almost as if someone had tipped some spectral watercolor paints into the atmosphere.

It wasn't cold enough for a fire, plus that attracted unwanted attention. Without a fire, and with the chakra silencing scroll strapped to him, Naruto would be pretty safe from any unwelcome nighttime visitors. But as a precaution, he studiously set up several traps surrounding his make-shift camping site, just in case.

Naruto slid the straps of his pack down his shoulders and let it drop onto the ground with a thump. In the pack were his bedroll, ration bars, and an array of weapons freshly cleaned and swiped free of any lingering blood. He pulled put his bed roll and spread it on the ground, then flopped down on his back with his arms folded behind his head.

He watched the sun immerse itself in the earth, then as its luminance faded into dark bruises. He should try to get to sleep, he knew, especially since he planned to be in the Sand Village by the next day. But there was something about being in the vast forest as night fell, a kind of dark magic that seemed to beckon out the monsters. He sighed, closing his eyes, and sleep made it's slow and careful descent.

* * *

Naruto woke to the sound of light footsteps scuffling on bark, and the near silent creak of wood bending. It was the whispering passage of a ninja traveling through the trees, about 20 yards from his make-shift clearing cut into the mountains. The chakra silencer placed on the scroll must work, he mused, for another ninja to pass by so swiftly without pausing. He continued to sit there on his bed roll, ears prying into the silence. Another hushed footstep much further away, quick, barely audible.

Then there was the sudden sensation of uncanny knowledge growing in him, enough to raise him to his feet. Naruto had never been great at chakra detection or distinguishing it, but there was a certain taste on the wind that stirred him awake. He could almost compare it to the scent of ozone before a lightning storm, or the coppery-penny taste of blood in the back of his throat. He stayed frozen in place, warring silently within himself. Risk the mission? Pursue a phantom through the woods?

The scroll strapped underneath his clothing burned against his chest, indecision sitting like bile on his tongue. _"This is a solo mission, there's no one to back you up. So avoid confrontation, even if it's _him_," _Tsunade's voice rang in his head, and Naruto bit the inside of his lip. Straying from the mission was unthinkable. He bit his lip harder. Letting this strange scent get away also grated against his entire being.

Mind and body wrestled, and then against his better, more sane judgement, he was leaping out of his safe circle of wards and out into the black wilderness. This was being _hopeful. _Being _hopeful _always ended with broken weapons and a nameless ninja being shaken in his grasp. It was never _him._

So for now he would just call it curiosity.

From his first step into the woods Naruto could tell that his invisible target had been alerted. There was a slight falter in the footsteps far ahead of him, then the firm sound of contact as the other sped up. _You're good, _Naruto thought, _detecting me right away. Alright, I'll play chase._

Naruto also slipped more power into his pace, senses on high alert to dodge branches and to listen for his prey. The darkness made such speeds difficult, the trees turning more into webbed darkness than any tangible object. He concentrated completely on this race through the night, feeling the feral feeling of hunting as he leapt bodily, swiftly through the forest. The moon filtered through in slices of silver light from a face with one corner bitten off, providing scant light for the pair as they ran.

Up ahead, Naruto heard the footsteps split into two. The other ninja had pulled a clever trick, creating a duplicate and racing off in separate directions. Naruto smirked to himself, not breaking a step as he formed the familiar hand signs. In a second there was a clone beside him, then gone as it split off after the other ninja. He was consumed with the chase, feeling as though he was a wolf racing under the night sky. Just two wolves shredding the night with their claws, playing a game that could end with death.

With a sudden rush of knowledge, Naruto got the information from the clone he had sent. Before it had been taken out by a hastily planted exploding tag, it had managed to land a shuriken in the shoulder of the running ninja which had quickly popped out of existence. He smiled devilishly. He was pursuing the real thing.

Naruto was growing closer, every now and then a dark silhouette flitted into view then vanished back into the shadows. His muscles strained, the night narrowing down into sounds and movement as he fought to keep the hectic pace. A flash of light up ahead, Naruto spinning through the air like a dancer before even confirming that it was a kunai. Said weapon flashed past him, a dull thud resounding as it connected in a tree trunk. _Seems my friend is getting a little irritated, _Naruto thought grimly as he continued to press forward. _Worried I'll catch you? _He flicked a shuriken into his hand from his sleeve.

Branches whipped at his face, leaving behind burning scratches. The wind was a continuous roar in his ears as he propelled himself after his swift quarry with all his strength, his leg muscles developing a dull ache. He felt like he was getting closer, but the other ninja somehow managed to leap out of range right when he was about to throw the shuriken. Naruto ground his teeth with frustration, hardly managing to duck a thick branch in time. The leaping shadow ahead was leading them deep into the forest, the branches intertwining into dangerous nets. At this rate...

There. All the racing filed down to this one snap shot. His elusive prey seemed to hang in the air, caught there by a small square of moonlight. Naruto's arm acted on its own, whipping the shuriken across the distance separating them. It happened in a second. The shuriken being thrown, the dark blur of the figure as it slipped into that one shred of light. But the shuriken sliced through the air in a blink of an eye, and then the other ninja jerked to a violent halt in midair as the throwing star caught a trailing sleeve against a tree.

Naruto flew by the other's suddenly stopped form to block off an escape, and spun around to face the caught ninja. There was the sound of ripping fabric as the other ninja undoubtedly yanked their sleeve free, then the soft patter of feet as they landed on a branch beneath where they had been pinned. In the darkness, Naruto could make out the gleam of eyes watching him.

"Naruto." The voice rippled coldly through the air.

At the sound of his name, Naruto froze. It felt almost as if his organs had slipped out his feet and slapped onto the ground, leaving behind icy shock. The thudding of his adrenaline-fueled heart burst in his chest and echoed into his ears. His breathing sounded loud and rough in the chilled night air. It couldn't be. It _couldn't_ be. Being _hopeful_ led to destruction...

"S-Sasuke?" The name slipped out from cold lips anyways. "Is that you?" He was ashamed of the shake in his voice, but there was suddenly _so little air_ in the atmosphere. It seemed like it was being sucked in by the shadowy silhouette standing threateningly in the dark.

There was the soft scuffling sound of sandals on bark as the other ninja leapt onto a higher branch, becoming bathed in silver. A pale face turned to him and the recognition ripped away Naruto's breath. It was Sasuke. Of course it was. Naruto had known it all along, somehow. But at the same time, the sudden appearance of Sasuke was so surreal. The fact that it was nighttime didn't help either, giving the situation an almost dream-like effect.

There was no forth-coming answer from the dark figure standing resolutely in the moonlight.

Naruto could make out his features now in the soft light of the moon. Sasuke looked different, older. He had grown taller and was sleek with muscle, the haori revealing a smooth, white chest that looked toned and powerful. The bone structure of his face looked about the same, except the night cast shadows like knives on his cheekbones, making his expression look sharp and solemn. Black eyes burned under thin eyebrows that were drawn into a glare. Everything about the other male rippled with repressed power. It was like being greeted by a crouching, deadly tiger after expecting the underdeveloped cub.

Naruto could tell from the other's poised frame that he might try to leap off at any second. Another shuriken leapt eagerly into his hand, ready to pin another article of clothing if necessary.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "As reckless as always." he stated. "You didn't even know if it was me." _Dobe. _Naruto heard its silent presence at the end, but knew Sasuke would think of it as a term of affection now.

Naruto laughed without feeling, shifting his feet and settling liquidly into a fighting stance. "Let's just say I had a feeling."

"Hmpf." Sasuke unsheathed his katana at his side, the blade singing as it slid free.

"I'm going to bring you back," Naruto declared forcefully, "even if it's in pieces."

A snicker from the phantom. "As if."


	2. Chapter 2

Panacea Chapter Two

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Like the sharp, quicksilver battle between two dark monsters, Naruto and Sasuke clashed blades in the night. Burnt golden sparks shivered off the grinding blades as the wounded moon grinned eerily down on them with shattered silver teeth.

Naruto bit his lip and ducked a fast flying fist, twisted in mid-air to avoid whistling shuriken, then landed in a crouch to slide across a thick tree branch that sprayed bark from the friction of his sandals. _Shit, shit, shit_. The mantra raced through his mind, burning hot paths as it ran on repeat. _It's Sasuke, he's here, right here, so close I could touch him, but he's trying to kill me-_

Flames hurtled through the cold night, erupting with white hot heat that had Naruto blinking the glare out of his eyes as he leapt out of the way. With a thundering _whoosh_ of air and swirls of crimson and gold, Sasuke's jutsu devoured several trees and had the weaker branches crumbling away into red sparkles of ash.

He knew he had to retaliate, crush bones he didn't want to crush, beat sense into the broken individual attacking him. All the training he had gone through, the obsessive planning, the past he had tried so hard to push back so it wouldn't completely consume his future, it was all for nothing. In the end, he didn't want to hurt Sasuke. He didn't want to draw blood from his shadow, his other side. Perhaps the Kyuubi had known this all along, maybe it whispered with the dark recesses of his mind he didn't want to see and _knew_. It had warned him, and it probably feared Naruto would extinguish his own light to feed the shadow throwing steel and flames at him.

Naruto bit down harder on his lip, feeling the canine tooth digging into soft flesh. Shuriken flicked out of his sleeves and he threw them, their spinning bodies little flashes of killing light. They studded the trunk of a tree next to Sasuke's head, and dark eyes narrowed slightly as they swung up to lock on Naruto.

Hand signs blurred from the blonde ninja, forming the familiar patterns of a mass Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Instantly, once the last sign was locked into place by tanned fingers, the surrounding area was an eruption of orange jumpsuits.

Sasuke crouched, poised as a cat, katana balanced in his hand evenly. His position didn't change even as the crowd of clones didn't attack, but instead just balanced carefully in their huge numbers.

"Sasuke," Naruto called, his voice a mix of emotions that burned out of his throat. The next sentence clung to his tongue, refusing to take form.

Black, gleaming eyes watched him, taking on a mocking sheen like the bitten moon above. "Make up your mind, Naruto," came the cold voice, each syllable coated in ice. "Did you chase me to blow hot air or kill me? Neither are going to end well."

"I don't want to do either!" The words tore out of Naruto with brutal force, his fists clenching painfully. "Why did you do it, Sasuke? Why did you leave us? If anyone could understand you it would be me!"

"You understand absolutely nothing." His tone was abrupt, sharp. The voice of someone who didn't want to listen.

"I do though," Naruto whispered. "Too well. We're the same-"

"No. You could never understand, you never had parents who bled out in front of you, who left you all _alone_ in front of the eyes of an entire village. _You_," he spat the last word, "were born free of those connections." Sasuke's pale face was swept into shadow as the moon tucked itself into a cloud, but Naruto could still feel the heat of those eyes slicing into him.

"You're right," Naruto agreed. "I never felt the love of a family, but others stepped in. They showed me what it must be like, but then I lost them too." The blonde's voice was quiet, the complete contrast of the screaming youth that had torn at the other ninja with all his fury at the Final Valley. "I can understand you now, I can help-"

"All of you people at the village are the same," Sasuke said, his voice dripping with contempt. "You all want to help _heal_ me, to help me get _better_. But I don't want to. All I want is power, and now I'm flooded with it." A quick smirk graced his pale face, looking slightly maddened. "And I will destroy all of you."

Naruto's heart sank at the words so loaded with hate, shivers trailing over his skin as a thought occurred to him. The self-created monster Sasuke had been carefully cultivating, grooming, and feeding his hate had indeed grown. It had swollen up inside him, filling out his body like air in a balloon, and now he was ready to pop.

"Sasuke, listen, you'll be making a mistake if you carry through with that," Naruto said sharply. "You'll be devoured completely by hate with nothing left to direct it at." He paused, taking in a deep breath, "Plus I will kill you before you touch a single person inside Konoha."

"You'll _kill me_," Sasuke laughed, "I thought you said you weren't going to blow hot air."

Naruto was displaced by the distorted laugh that squirmed its way out of Sasuke, but his brows settled firmly into a frown as he glared at the other ninja.

"You think you're the only one that's gotten stronger?" Naruto growled. "I've been training, preparing, not for something to destroy but for this day when we would meet again. I'm going to bring you home."

"_Just shut the fuck up_," Sasuke snarled acidly, his katana glinting wickedly as he twirled it in his hand and crouched lower. "I'm going to kill you so you'll just _shut the fuck up_. I don't want to hear another word."

Sasuke then lunged forward so swiftly and powerfully that the branch cracked under him from the force, the sudden bloody color of his sharingan visible even under the scant moonlight. Naruto's clones were prepared though, having waited patiently in the trees for the imminent attack. In a flurry of orange and sweeping steel, Sasuke slashed through the clones as they swarmed in a group attack, the rough voices of many Naruto's yelping as they were cut through and swept out of existence.

The real Naruto used the borrowed time to begin building a rasengan in his open palm, the biting power of the swirling chakra condensing with a dangerous hum. If he had to run this through Sasuke, take his best friends life in a way that would leave him elbow-deep in blood, he would. To save his village, to protect the innocents that lived there, he would do it. But not now, not when Sasuke was still alive, breathing, and fighting in front of him, still free of shedding any Konoha blood.

Because how could someone become Hokage if they couldn't even save one friend?

He leapt forward with the rasengan whirring in his hand, his blue eyes locked on the other ninja who was in the process of stabbing yet another clone through the chest. Red eyes with twirling pupils immediately shot over to him, then narrowed as they focused on the ball of energy gaining velocity in the blonde's cupped palm.

Naruto knew he was too far away to really surprise the other ninja, and that Sasuke could easily rebuttal the jutsu by dodging or quickly producing a chidori, but he did neither of these things.

He stayed fixed where he was and smirked crookedly at Naruto.

Naruto knew he was only suspended in the air for seconds, that Sasuke wasn't actually getting closer to him in slow motion increments, but it seemed like it was truly happening as his eyes widened with the realization _he's not going to move_. He knew that he should just hit him with it anyways, end the chase where he had been "It" for way too long, but even though the thought murmured across his mind the rasengan slowly died in his hand.

He was empty-handed when he was suddenly in front of Sasuke, and the fist that plowed into his stomach proved him _wrong, wrong, wrong_. Naruto gasped as the air was slammed out of his body, Sasuke's strength and his own forward momentum doubling the pain.

Sasuke punched him again viciously, this time driving him down towards the ground a story beneath. He slammed into the ruthless earth with a bone shattering jolt, spots dancing in front of his dazzled eyes as he struggled to choke in air.

Distantly, Naruto heard the solid sound of sandals making contact beside his head, and he blinked up blearily at the looming figure of Sasuke standing over him.

"Completely powerless," came the hollow voice from above him.

Something inside Naruto recoiled at the words, even as he coughed violently to regain his breath.

"Why would you stop attacking just because your opponent stood still?" Sasuke continued, crouching down to peer at the pained whiskered face. "Even after I threatened your home you couldn't bring yourself to do it. To _kill me_." He said the last two words mockingly. "Why?"

Naruto coughed heavily, feeling something warm and coppery on the back of his tongue. "B-because you're m-my friend."

Sasuke's katana was suddenly inches from his face, the deadly point glinting in front of his eyes. "Don't fucking say that anymore," he said darkly.

Naruto smiled sadly as he gazed up at the steel, a small trickle of blood gathering at the corner of his mouth before it glided down his jaw. "W-we were both a-always alone. Y-you hated m-me but-" He coughed raggedly and he seemed to gain more of his breath, "-I-I always wanted to be like you. You w-were just so cool." He laughed weakly. " I called you my rival but I just wanted to be like you."

The katana lowered a fraction, the tip grazing Naruto's nose. "I'm going to kill you," Sasuke stated, his voice sounding slightly unleveled, like his sanity was breaking ever so slightly. "But I'm going to make you hate me first. I want you to realize what I really am."

"And what is that?" Naruto asked, his eyes silver with moonlight.

"I'm a monster," Sasuke replied, his face solemn as he stared down at Naruto.

"We all have a monster, Sasuke," Naruto said, a wry smile forming on his face. "At least yours hasn't almost annihilated a village."

It was Sasuke's turn to smile. "Not yet, anyways."

Naruto's face fell, his eyes turning as cold as the blade suspended above him. "I won't let that happen."

Sasuke smirked. "As if you're really in a position to say that."

_True_, Naruto thought. Having recovered in the time he had been on the ground, he thought desperately for an escape plan. He had been temporarily incapacitated by those blows that had knocked the breath out of him, but now he was alive and kicking and very much in mortal danger. He was fast, but so was Sasuke to a ridiculous extent. In the time he could try to move completely out of harms way, Sasuke could simply plunge his katana down into his skull and it would be game over.

"I can see the thoughts going through your head," Sasuke said smugly, "it's not going to work."

The blonde grimaced from his position under the katana, squirming a little only to watch the blade wiggle with the slight motions of his head. "So you're going to kill me," he stated finally, struggling not to go cross-eyed watching the weapon over his head. He decided to look at Sasuke instead. "You cheated."

"Really." Sasuke laughed then, that horrible strangled laugh that seemed seemed to be coming from the dark passenger taking residence inside of him. His monster.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "You knew I wouldn't hit someone with that jutsu if they weren't fighting back. You _knew_."

"I was testing your weakness," was the dark response. The katana over Naruto's head shifted slightly, catching the moonlight with a shimmer of deadly light.

"If you want to test my strengths and weaknesses let me up and we can fight this out, fair and square!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes burning with that blue fury.

"No!" The word snapped out of Sasuke fiercely, the katana jerking slightly with his shout so it sliced vertically down Naruto's whiskers. The dark-haired ninja froze then, watching as the blood welled up sluggishly to the surface on the other's cheek before running down towards his neck. "No," he repeated, more quietly this time. "I'm ending this now. I don't want you to chase me anymore. I'm going to make you hate me, then I'm going to kill you."

"I can't hate you," Naruto said stubbornly, his voice low. "I understand you, I know why you've been doing all these things, why you ran away. I can't hate you when you're so much like me."

"I'm not anything like you," Sasuke said exasperatedly. "Are you fucking insane?"

"Probably," Naruto laughed. "But I can't hate you. I won't. Even if you attacked the village I would stop you, but I still wouldn't hate you."

Sasuke stared down at him then, as if he was dumbfounded. Frustration was plain on his face as well, like he had wanted Naruto to cry and curse his very existence. "I will make you hate me," Sasuke stated again, his black eyes steely in the darkness.

Naruto felt the urge to kick Sasuke violently in the face, maybe knock some sense into his clouded brain. _What the fuck was he talking about? He had said he wouldn't hate him, no matter what he did, but Sasuke continued to insist he would make it happen. Why? Why did he even care? _Naruto finally bit, "Fine. How? How are you going to _make_ me hate you?"

Sasuke smirked then, with that volatile, slightly maddened quirk of the lips. "Orochimaru," he began, his eyes switching to the blade over Naruto's head as if to admire the wicked shine, "taught me many things. How to fight, how to move, how to think..." His gaze switched back to Naruto, who was frowning at the words as if he wasn't following where they were going. "He also taught me how to break an opponent on a deep, personal level." That slightly maddened look intensified. "Especially your close enemies. Ones that need to be broken. Like you."

Naruto looked baffled, his eyes completely off the blade to watch the strange expressions skirt across Sasuke's face. "How? What the fuck are you talking about? I won't hate you, stupid bastard."

"Not yet. But you will."

Naruto really wished that weird, twisted expression would just fall off his former best friend's face. It was beginning to make him nervous. He squirmed a little on the ground again, but the eager katana over his head mimed his movements easily.

Sasuke leaned in closer, and the proximity startled the other ninja as well as the strange alien light in the other's eyes. The monster inside Sasuke was there, gazing through the lenses of its host's eyes, predatory and evil. Hungry. "Your trusting eyes," Sasuke said, tracing the bright blue orbs with his katana, "will fade. I can kill you while you have hate in your soul, so you can feel the betrayal, the _loathing _towards another human being that I've felt my entire life, at least for a few seconds." He leaned in even closer, as if he was sharing a secret. "Before I end it all."

Wide eyes gazed up at Sasuke, who was so close, so viciously near, then curved into a smile as Naruto grinned up brazenly at the madness lurking over him. "So, you're going to torture me? Shove bamboo splinters under my fingernails and break my kneecaps? Wonderful, I knew tonight would be great."

Sasuke's crazed look faltered for a second, then twisted into a mask of rage. The fist came blazingly fast, smashing into the side of Naruto's face so it whip-lashed into the ground on the other side and back. "You're not taking me seriously!" Sasuke shouted, fury laced into his voice. "I'm going to fucking kill you! How can you sit there and make jokes?"

Naruto rotated his jaw a bit and winced. "Well, I'm not really sitting, am I? Kind of laying down."

Another punch had him spitting blood as he came back around. "Fuck, goddamn," he cursed, then added more vivid words to accompany the pain. "Okay, okay. No more jokes. Fuck."

"I never thought I would ever take that snake's advice," Sasuke mumbled from his position squatting over Naruto. "I can see it working now, though." He was talking to himself, the words not directed at the blonde quickly bruising at his feet. "I have to ruin you," he said, this time talking to Naruto.

The sword was raised, then it sliced into the earth right next to Naruto head as if the soil was butter. Before the other could properly process that the threat over his head was gone, Sasuke was suddenly on top of Naruto, his hands pinning the blonde's wrists on either side of his head with a death grip.

"What the hell are you doing?" Naruto asked with confusion, the muscles in his arms flexing as he struggled against the force pinning him down.

"Making you feel absolutely powerless, violated, and betrayed," Sasuke growled, fighting the strength of the tanned arms trying to free themselves from his vice-like grasp.

"How? By climbing on top of me and reverse arm-wrestling me?" Naruto snapped from under him, his teeth grinding as his muscles rippled in a battle of strength to throw off the man on top of him.

"No!" Sasuke smashed his forehead against the blonde's, temporarily dazing him. While Naruto saw stars, Sasuke quickly struck the pressure point in the other's neck.

Naruto slumped, his muscles not responding as his eyes swam with the intense disorientation of being hit twice in such crucial places. "Ow, shit. Really? That fucking hurt," he grouched. "You are _such_ an asshole. All these cheap-shots are really starting to piss me off."

"Good," Sasuke said cooly, grabbing both wrists with one hand and holding them together. He reached around with his other hand and yanked off the purple rope tying his yukata together and proceeded to bind Naruto's arms thoroughly with it. He knotted the thick rope twice, then gave it an experimental tug to make sure it was secure.

"Okay, really? What the fuck, Sasuke?" Naruto twisted underneath the black-haired ninja, his arms effectively bound over his head. "If you're not going to fight fair then- hey, hey whoa! What are you doing?"

Blue eyes were infinitely wide as Sasuke began unzipping the gaudy orange and black jacket, the teeth of the zipper whispering until it unlatched at the bottom and the fabric fell open. Then the ninja paused, his eyes falling on the scroll bound to Naruto's chest by several layers of tape under the thin black fishnet shirt he was wearing. "What is this?" He asked, a pale finger pointing to the mission scroll.

Naruto continued squirming, his eyes narrowed to slits that glared at Sasuke. "I'm on a mission, I have to deliver that scroll. I don't know what's in it," he grunted out, arms flexing against the purple rope binding him.

Sasuke looked intrigued. "You compromised a mission to chase me down? Idiot."

A cold hand slid under the fishnet shirt Naruto had on under his jacket, then ripped the tape free with a quick tug. "It has wards all over it. Must be important," Sasuke commented, then nonchalantly tossed it over his shoulder into the scraggly brush huddled thickly around the base of a tree.

Naruto hissed angrily, thrashing more powerfully under the weight of Sasuke who continued to pin him down calmly. "You _ass_! It _is_ important. Let me UP! I need to get that scroll!"

"You should have thought of its importance before chasing someone who wanted to kill you into the woods," he replied snappily. "As if you're in any position to make requests, anyways."

The other ninja stilled, his eyes full of real burning fury while his chest huffed up and down from the exertion of trying to free himself. "Sasuke," the word was grated out, bladed and sharp as it dove out of his mouth. "Let. Me. Go."

"Have you not been listening to a word I've been saying?" Sasuke snapped, his expression drenched with irritation and disbelief. "Do you really think this is some playground fight? I'm not going to let you up and I'm not going to listen to a word you say. You chased me to your death, Naruto, and murder doesn't take requests."

Naruto's face was solemn, comprehension dawning in his eyes like a curtain being peeled back to reveal some dark, haunting truth. "Okay, I get it," he said reluctantly. "Message received. So what are you going to do now, Sasuke? How are you going to _break_ me?" Blue eyes met black dead on, the gaze challenging. "You're stalling, I can tell. It's not your style to just pin someone down and threaten them, you _act_. So let's see it, make me hate you."

Sasuke blinked slowly, as if he had been expecting anything except what had just been uttered. Screaming defiance, cursing, crying... but a challenge he didn't seem to expect. Then those empty eyes hardened and Naruto almost regretted goading him.

"Heh, fine then Naruto. I'd forgotten how thick-headed you are." The words were cold, not nostalgic or reminiscing but an insult. He laughed again, but it sounded more like a dry, slightly crazed cough. Then, barely audible he said, "_That fucking snake better be right_."

A pale hand gripped the webbed fabric of the fishnet and tore it, causing a series of sharp, fabric-ripping sounds to fill the night. Naruto flinched underneath him, his eyes flicking to Sasuke's hands as if he was awaiting the sharp objects that would fill them and begin plunging into his bare chest. No knives came, no glinting metal to turn naked skin into running rivulets of melted jewel blood. Just torn fabric shredding away like feathers being ripped off a bird.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Naruto asked shakily, confusion racing across his face as chilled hands slid down his toned abdomen. The slender fingers began fiddling with the string of his orange pants, deftly undoing the snug knot until it was loose. Sasuke's face was turned away from Naruto's as his hand did these strange acts, and the blonde's calm was quickly evaporating. "Oi! What are you- Hey, hey!" His eyes were wide with shock as Sasuke began sliding his now slackened pants down, revealing the cheerily printed boxers Iruka-sensei had gotten him for Christmas. Sasuke seemed to pause momentarily to eye the reindeers frolicking across the fabric before continuing to tug his pants off.

"What the fuck, Sasuke?" Naruto's voice was a bit more high-pitched than he would've liked, and he was growing far more alarmed as he was readily ignored. He wriggled, trying to free himself, but the lack of his arms and the firm weight of Sasuke settled on his stomach kept him pinned. "This is so awkward, you couldn't possibly be thinking of-" He blushed deeply, the thought so completely taboo he couldn't voice it. Surely the torture was coming. Steel, blood, and pain were old friends of his, he could take it. Even if it was at the hand of his best friend. But this was treading into alien territory, something he had always been too busy to even think about, much less act upon. _Surely_ the torture was coming, he couldn't actually be thinking of...

Sasuke's face was still turned away, watching what he was doing as he disposed of Naruto's clothes, his profile unreadable. Naruto stared at that pale slice of face he could see that wasn't shielded by shadow, willing him to turn and look at him so he could discern if he was truly doing what he was doing. Several slender fingers slid under the waistband of his boxers before beginning to tug them down quickly, those same fingers skimming over his legs as he leaned back to untangle them from his ankles.

"HEY!" Naruto shouted this time, his face glowing red with embarrassment. "Stop! What the hell are you doing?"

"Shut up," Sasuke muttered, not sounding as if he was all there. Actually, Naruto was beginning to believe he really was bat-shit crazy. Completely out of his head. _Insane_. Mad enough to start stripping down his former childhood friend in the middle of a goddamn forest.

"No! Get off me! Fucking hell, what is wrong with you?" Naruto continued sputtering, his arms shaking with the strain of trying to tear out of their restraints. He was expecting anything, _anything_ besides this. He had never been exposed this close to someone before, and he could feel the blood pounding in his head from the furious blush painted across his face. Here he was, sprawled out under Sasuke, his jacket fanned open, pant-less, Sasuke's white yukata spread open from the lack of a rope to tie it shut exposing his pale, lean chest and stomach. He was like a living sculpture pinning down a living, blood-filled animal with relentless marble-strength.

It was so foreign, so completely _wrong_, and too intimate. Naruto wished he was anywhere but there at that moment, his life and body at the mercy of an insane rogue ninja.

"Do you understand now?" Sasuke asked, his voice filled with infinite cold oceans of darkness. "What I'm going to do?"

"I'm not a genius but I think I've figured it out," Naruto said shakily, still flexing his arms to break the rope's hold. "Don't do it, Sasuke. It's just too... too fucked. Wrong. We're friends-"

"The whole point of this is to prove we're not," he growled. "The whole point is to smash your trust in others and break this stupid fucking fixation you have on me. I don't give a shit about you, Naruto. I want you dead, out of my life with your idiot speeches and blind loyalty. You're nothing but a nuisance."

"Then why go through all this trouble?" Naruto whispered. "Why go this far to break me? If I'm just an obstacle why didn't you just stab your katana through me and walk away?"

Sasuke's face distorted, the monster writhing under the surface as if it was hunting for an answer. "Because it wasn't enough," he said finally. "You have to feel hate before you die by my hand. I want your delusions of friendship erased."

"I've felt hate my entire life!" Naruto cried, the words tearing out of him violently, so suddenly it surprised even him. "Do you really think its been easy forgiving all the people who hated me for just existing? For something that wasn't even my fault? I hated all of them, I almost walked down the same path you have just to erase the whispers that followed my back!" He dragged in a jagged breath to fuel the onslaught of feelings rushing out of him. "I was always alone! Stared at, ridiculed, left out. The whole goddamn village would've celebrated if I had died!"

Sasuke was staring down at him with a stupefied expression, the barrage of rough-spoken feelings apparently startling him into silence.

"I thought of so many ways to shred those disapproving faces, how to punish those people who would alienate a little kid," Naruto continued. "But instead I wore a stupid grin, acted out, chose the most obnoxious color I could find so people would have to notice me. I wanted power, I wanted to become Hokage so that everyone would look up to me, that no one would question my existence." His eyes were burning now, the truth of the words dredging up unwelcome feelings that caught in his throat. "I don't know how, but somehow I made it. I forged bonds with people. I got over my thirst for revenge and decided to prove myself to those people instead of destroying them."

"Sh-shut up," Sasuke whispered from above him, his face unreadable because of the shadows tossed across the planes of his face. "It's not the same."

"The situation isn't," Naruto agreed quietly, "but the feeling is."

"Then why can't you hate me?" Sasuke muttered. "If you can hate, why can't you hate me? Why even care about me, call me your friend, after I almost killed you?"

"Because I know you," Naruto repeated. "I understand why you did the things you did. Not so much this," he nodded down at his exposed body, "_really _not this, but I do understand."

Sasuke's hands fell to his sides, his eyes wincing shut as if he was mentally shielding himself from shards of glass. "It doesn't change anything. I'm still going to... going to do this. I just hate your goddamn speeches. I hate you," he said hoarsely. "I have to erase you."

Naruto, though ensnared in the verbal dispute with the insane man above him, still very much longed for his pants. He felt naked in every aspect, from baring those scarred feelings to being literally stretched out nude underneath Sasuke. It seemed like it had been years since he had been sleeping peacefully before hearing those mysterious sounds in the woods. "Sasuke... This won't make me hate you," he stated. "Even if you go through with it, force me to..." Naruto flinched, still unable to speak what was happening aloud. "I just, I won't hate you."

He began trying to sit up, but Sasuke shoved him back, his palms pressed on his shoulders to pin him down. Naruto shivered, that trapped, helpless feeling rising up in him like a cold tide was washing up from his toes to curl around his neck. This was what Sasuke wanted, to reduce him into a coiled ball of fear and loathing, to destroy him. The chill murmured in his bones, coating his marrow with ice. _It's working_.

Sasuke pulled a hand back from Naruto's chest so he could slip his arm out of the long white sleeve, making the smooth expanse of his shoulder visible. Then his other arm worked its way out of its confines until the fabric fell to the side to puddle on the ground with a soft whisper.

Naruto growled with frustration, his arms continuing to work against the rope. Maybe it was just him but it seemed to be slackening, the muscles in his arms having more room to flex as he tensed them in the seemingly never-ending battle to free himself. If he could only get free...

His thoughts train-crashed and stuttered to a smoking, flame-filled halt as Sasuke began untying his pants, his hands trembling so minutely that Naruto would have easily missed it if those hands weren't holding the keys for his twisted future. But he saw it, that slight shaking, the uncertainty. Sasuke was also muttering to himself, or maybe to his demon, in an incoherent manner that Naruto only caught scattered snatches of.

"Stop," Naruto said again. "Don't do this."

Sasuke ignored him, maybe didn't even hear him as he continued undoing his pants with crazed, single-minded determination.

That was by far the most alarming thing yet, Sasuke's complete dismissal of his presence. Sure, everything proceeding that had been no walk in the park, but now Naruto knew he was _really going to go through with it_. The sensation of that knowledge cascading over him was like being doused in icy water laced with fire. Naruto thrashed with fresh determination, his teeth bared as his arms chaffed against the ropes and his muscles burned. Then, a miracle happened.

One of his arms slithered free.

He froze, almost shocked that he had actually managed to release himself. He glanced deftly at Sasuke to see if he had noticed, but the other was still distracted by his pants, the knot almost undone. Naruto smirked a little to himself, tasting the tiniest drop of victory and reveling at how sweet it tasted.

The only thing sweeter than that was the sound of his fist connecting with the fine-boned, unsuspecting face of one Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke "oof'd", completely taken by surprise as his prey lashed out from under him. Naruto then powerfully shoved him off his waist so that Sasuke landed jarringly to the side, and in a hundredth of a second the blonde ninja reversed their positions. Sasuke snarled under him, his eyes slits of anger as he glowered up at the triumphant yet furious Naruto holding him firmly by his wrists and pinning him at the waist by straddling him.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Naruto bellowed then, the force of his voice causing Sasuke's black bangs to shiver with the wind carrying the words. "Fuck you! Do you honestly think you can control me like that? _Make_ me change my feelings? Ever since we were twelve years old you've acted like you've known everything!" He lifted Sasuke's wrists and slammed them back forcefully, venting his wild, fiery torrent of anger and emotions into the act. "How could you think you could get in someone's head, re-arrange their feelings? Did you forget all about the will of fire?"

"That's all a lie," Sasuke scoffed from under him. "It's a pretty way to justify your own actions, Naruto. Don't delude yourself."

"It's real! If you had stayed in the village you might have seen how everyone's flames grew, how we followed what our fires told us to! I have the power, the _will_, to like or hate who I want, and you can't do anything. Sasuke, you need to _wake up_!"

Something possessed him then, some dark foreign passenger that he had never noticed hiding away in the backseat until it snatched the wheel out of his hands. He knew faintly what he was doing, but it seemed more physical than mental, like his body had decided to try and "wake Sasuke up" with a complete nervous system shock. It was an act of absolute anger, instinct, stupidity, pure loss of his sanity that had him...

Crashing his lips down onto Sasuke's.

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A/N: Ahh, * hugs cliff hanger * Hello old friend! It's been awhile. (Sorry about the cliffy guys, but there will be a third and final chapter). Anyways, I really, really hope you enjoyed! Please tell me if you did... and I said "please", so don't make me start begging now. Well, it's time for some well-earned sleep, this has been yet another middle of the night chapter update.


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